History (Linked Universe One-Shot)
by Lets Do That Again
Summary: Zelda learns what Nintendo fans have learned to live with since 2011. (Linked Universe One-shot).


History

**The Legend of Zelda and all related media are property of Nintendo.**

**/+/+/+/+/**

"Anyone have a clue where we are now?" Four asked, staring out at the landscape before them.

"This is my Hyrule," Wild said, gazing at the surroundings.

"The place with those crazy ninjas that worship Ganon," Warrior asked.

"Is there another Hyrule where that's a problem?" Wind asked, sending Warrior a cheeky grin when he glowered at him.

"We're close to Kakariko Village," Wild said, pointing to the northeast, "It's just over that ridge."

"Be a good place to stock on supplies," Twilight said.

"Be nice to have an actual bed again," Hyrule added, arching his back with a groan.

"Maybe not," Wild mumbled.

"Why not?" Time asked, cocking a brow.

"I'm kind of…famous there."

Legend grimaced, "Bad famous?"

"No, no. The, uh, good kind," Wild quickly stated, rubbing his scarred neck.

Sky placed a comforting hand on the young man's shoulder. "We don't have to go if you don't want us to." A couple of the other Heroes frowned at the thought, but all of them reasoned that some meager comforts weren't worth forcing their friend into an uncomfortable situation.

Wild shook Sky off, "Nah, it's fine. Just, uh…everyone there's a Sheikah who, well, knows who I w—am. Who I am." Before anyone could comment on the slip, he grimaced, "They've all probably been worrying their heads off while I've been gone."

"Well, we should appraise them of your well-being," Time said with a light smirk.

**/+/+/+/+/**

"I just don't understand!" Princess Zelda cried; her voice raw as she angrily scrubbed away tears. "Where could he have gone?"

Impa hummed sympathetically, "Link is a resourceful man, Princess," she said, speaking with a confidence she was sorely lacking. "He will be fine."

"But it's been three months," the heir to Hyrule's throne sniffled.

"There have been sightings of him," Paya said soothingly. She left out, Impa knew, the conflicting and bizarre nature of those sightings.

"Then why hasn't he come back," the Princess stifled a sob, "…What did I _do_?"

Impa cursed; thought leagues more confident than she once was, she still suffered the occasional blow. But before she could attempt to comfort her charge (the century they spent apart notwithstanding) Cado and Dorian burst into the room.

"Master Impa!" Cado cried, "It's Master Link. He's here!"

The three women gasped. "Truly?" Princess Zelda said, rising to her feet.

"Yes," Dorian answered. He then pursed his lips, to Impa's confusion, "But, er…see for yourselves."

The two men stepped aside, allowing Link to enter. Followed by Link, and Link, and Link…

Impa, Paya, and the Princess gasped as eight men similar, but not exactly like, Link entered the room. Impa had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things, but lo and behold, there they all were.

Link—_their_ Link—cleared his throat, bashfully waving, "Hello Impa, Paya…Zelda."

_THUD_

"Oh my—Paya!" Princess Zelda gasped as the young girl slumped to the floor. Link rushed forward, a stricken look on his face, while the…others looked on passively.

"What's wrong with her?" said the…blonde wearing a black-furred vest.

"Probably needs water," said the one wearing a blue shirt emblazoned with a white lobster, "See it all the time when out at sea."

"Do you really think they lack fresh water?" asked the one in the red shirt. The one in blue stuck his tongue out childishly, making the one in red smirk.

"Oooh…" Impa tore herself away from the strange men in favor of looking at her granddaughter. "Grandmother, Princess, I had the strangest dream. Master Link had returned, but there was more…than…" she trailed off, eyes widening as she once more caught sight of the eight blondes.

The one wearing a blue scarf grinned cockily at Paya, "Hey there."

Now, Impa was able to see her granddaughter's face redden to a shade just shy of a tomato. She let out a soft 'eep!' and, once more, fell to the floor, dead to the world.

"…Was it something I said?" the blue-scarfed one asked. This prompted the oldest one—the one that most looked like a warrior in Impa's wizened eyes—to smack him upside the head.

"Link," Princess Zelda said, having gained her bearings, "What on ear—"

"Wild," Link interrupted her. At her confused stare, he added, "When I'm with them, call me Wild."

The Princess's confusion was compounded by his statement, Impa could tell. She, however, believed to have an idea, however partial, of what was happening.

"I believe," she said, getting everyone's attention, "That we should talk."

"That sounds like a good idea, Impa," their Link said. The elderly Sheikah made note of the way the scarfed one and the oldest one looked at her, but let it pass in favor of hearing their tale.

**/+/+/+/+/**

After Impa sent Paya up to recuperate in her room, Zelda took Wild aside to speak privately.

"I just—I mean—It all sounds so…" Zelda stammered, constantly interrupting herself. Wild smiled softly, sympathetically patting her shoulder. She sighed heavily, "Oh, I just don't know how you can keep it all straight Li—Wild."

Wild shrugged, leaning back to stare at the other versions of him, who were either conversing with the Sheikah in the room (Time, Sky, Legend and Hyrule) or keeping to themselves (everyone else). "It got a little easier with time; you know, learning about each other. Our histories."

"Ah! That's right!" Zelda gasped, startling Wild. "L—Wild, think of the opportunity we have before us!" She started to gush, "Oh, the chance to learn our world's history from people—from the Heroes—that actually lived during our most famous times!"

Wild had his doubts but didn't have the heart to tear away the hope and wonder shining in her eyes. Instead, he whistled loudly, His counterparts all turned towards them, walking forward when he beckoned them. He gestured to Zelda, "She had some questions for you all."

Eight eyes of varying shades of blue homed in on Zelda, who, Wild could tell, was doing her best not to fidget. "Um…hello, everyone." The only enthusiastic greeting she received was a hearty wave from Wind. Wild could see that Zelda was having a the most difficulty keeping eye-contact with Time—not surprising.

She cleared her throat, "As you all know, I am Princess Zelda. Er," she bit her lower lip, "the current Princess Zelda. Rather—"

"Your Zelda," Twilight cut her off, "let's leave it at that."

She nodded, "Quite. Now, I don't know how much…Wild, has told you about me." Wild thanked whatever gods were listening that everyone managed to keep a straight face. "But I've always considered myself a scholar. And standing before me is an incredibly rare opportunity to learn history from those that have actually lived through it!" She did her best, but Wild could hear the half-squeal of excitement slip past her lips.

Hyrule spoke first, "We're not needed anywhere, are we?"

Wind reached into his pack, pulling out a map of the current Hyrule, "…No, we don't have any unfinished business anywhere at the moment."

"Why not, I say," Warrior said, sitting down without further preamble. Legend and Time eyed the man, but once they sat down, everyone else did as well.

Zelda hummed excitedly, sitting down and pulling out her notepad and writing utensils. She then looked over her shoulder, smiling softly and beckoning him to sit next to her. Wild felt a twinge in his heart, but instead of actually confronting his tangled mess of feelings, he simply sat down a bit further from her than she indicated (he did his best to ignore the way her lips twitched downward).

"So, I suppose I must ask, who among you is the, er, 'first'?"

"That'd be me," Sky raised his hand.

"Ah! And you are…Air?"

"Sky," the man said with a genial smile.

"Of course, my apologies."

"And I'm not actually the first," he said.

"Oh?" Zelda asked, furiously writing on her notepad.

"No. There was another one before me. Lady Hylia's first chosen one."

"Speaking of," Legend said snidely, "Why don't you start by informing the good Princess about how it's her fault we're in this mess to being with."

Zelda blinked, "Lady Hylia is the reason you're all here?"

Legend made to speak, but before Wild could shut him up, Four said. "He means," the shortest Hero sidled Legend a soft glare, "That Lady Hylia is the reason why we're 'Heroes'."

"And," Zelda fidgeted, feeling, if not wholly understanding, the tension seeping out from the various Heroes, "you…blame her for this?"

"Yes," Time bluntly stated. "She's the reason everything's messed up to begin with."

"Ah," Zelda faltered, clearing her throat, "I-I'm sure you're mistaken."

"…He's not wrong," Sky grumbled. When Zelda turned to him, he elaborated, "Hylia, through Zelda—my Zelda,"

"'Your Zelda'?"

"In times of strife," Warrior began, "There will always be a 'Link' and a 'Zelda' to stand against the tides of darkness."

Wild could hear the gears turning in Zelda's head. He reached over and tapped her shoulder, saying, "Let's focus on one thing at a time."

She nodded, "So, Hylia?"

Sky sighed, staring down at the floor, "…She admitted to engineering my entire journey for the sole purpose of getting me strong enough to fight against an evil she couldn't properly destroy."

"Thereby leading to all our problems," Legend said with a low snarl.

"She apologized!" Sky shouted, slamming his fist against the floor.

"Zelda apologized, not Hylia," Twilight said.

"But at that point they were basically one and the same, right?" Warrior said, "So Hylia _did_ apologize."

"That's supposed to make it okay?" Wind asked with a raised brow.

"I highly doubt she meant for things to get so bad," Four answered.

"Regardless of her original intent, she still left an incredible mess for us to clean up," Time said solemnly.

Zelda looked around helplessly as the Heroes started to devolve into smaller arguments—save for Wild, who stayed silent, even if he had a very vocal opinion on the subject. Instead, he whistled shrilly, catching everyone's attention. He waited for a moment. "…Why don't we move on to a different question?" he asked, staring pointedly at Zelda.

"R-Right," she cleared her throat. "Er…how about we establish a timeline?" Wild winced; that might have been the worst thing to suggest. But the others were eager to leave the previous subject behind, so Sky spoke once more.

"Well, again, I'm the first one. Born and raised in Skyloft; a bunch of islands Lady Hylia lifted above the clouds at the end of the first Great War."

"What Gr—"

"Up-bup-bup!" Legend cut her off, "You want a timeline, we're giving you a timeline; nothing more, nothing less. We're not going down any rabbit holes." Zelda glowered at him, and he glowered right back. After it became apparent that neither was going to back down, Four spoke up.

"I'm next," he said. "Uh, the kingdom of Hyrule was long established by the time I had to save it. I'd also never heard of Skyloft before meeting him," he pointed to Sky.

"Wait, you'd never heard of it before? But it was the precursor to our kingdom."

Four shrugged, "The fog of ages, I suppose. There must be at least a thousand years between Sky and myself."

Zelda pouted when it became apparent that Four had nothing more to say, scanning the others to see who was next.

Time said, "I'm the next one in line. Like Four said, the kingdom of Hyrule had long been establish; though by my time, the Zora, Goron, and Gerudo had carved out their own homes within the country." He hummed, staring up at the ceiling thoughtfully, "There was also a Civil War around the time of my birth, apparently."

"Apparently?" Zelda asked wearily.

Time shrugged, "No one I know outside of the Great Deku tree ever mentioned it. But it was somehow bad enough to kill my birth father and force my birth mother to flee into the Forest for safety with me in tow. He then frowned, "Unless the Forest's magic halted my aging process as an infant until about a decade before I needed to save Hyrule; thereby making the 'Civil War' ancient history."

"…Are you serious?" Twilight asked incredulously

"I'm not kidding when I say no one else ever mentioned it."

"Rabbit hole!" Legend shouted lazily.

Wind snickered, "You'd know all about rabbits, wouldn't you?"

The other Heroes—even Wild, momentarily forgetting where he was—laughed as Legend's face flushed, lips curling into a snarl.

When the laughter subsided, Zelda (who Wild briefly noticed was staring wide-eyed at him), wanting to get things back on track, said, "Moving…on…who's next?"

Now came the part that Wild dreaded; Wind, Twilight and Legend all raised their hands.

Zelda blinked, "Oh! All three of you came about together?"

"Not…quite," Twilight said with a wince.

"Time," Hyrule said hesitantly, "He sort of…broke…time."

"…What?" Zelda asked flatly.

"Ooh! Ooh! I can explain!" Wind exclaimed. When no one else stepped up, he began; "Okay, so, during Time's adventure, he used time travel to become a kid again."

"Wha—Why?" Zelda asked, bewildered.

"Because…what was the reason your Zelda gave?"

"She wanted to give me a chance to live out the childhood that was stolen from me," Time answered.

"Right, that!" Wild had to resist the urge to chortle at Zelda's utterly baffled stare. "Anyway, that caused a wrinkle in Hylia's 'grand design'. Because 'Heroes' work by endlessly reincarnating the same soul. Time going back to his childhood didn't erase the Hyrule that he saved; but it did get rid of his soul. So, when Ganon broke out of his prison—"

"GANON?!" Zelda shrieked.

"Rabbit hole!"

"When Ganon broke out of his prison," Wind all but shouted, bringing attention back to him, "there wasn't a Hero available to fix the problem. But, Hylia wasn't there to try and 'fix' things again, so Din, Farore, and Nayru had to deal with it themselves." He then rose to his feet gesticulating wildly, "But they're even more out of touch with things than Hylia, so their solution to the problem was to flood the _entire_ world! Herding people to the highest peaks of the tallest mountains in order to survive! That's the timeline I come from!" he finished with a proud smirk.

Zelda was silent as she stared at Wind. She then turned to Twilight, torn between asking her next question, and staying silent. But, for better or worse, she found a well of courage within herself. "And you?"

Twilight shrugged, "Not much to say. Me and Warrior are from the timeline where Time returned to his childhood. Life continued on, I guess. Hyrule expanded its territory a bit, but that's about it."

"And all I can really say," Warrior began, "is that people got a lot better at keeping a track of history by the time I was born. We'd discovered evidence of Skyloft's existence, along with some tales pertaining to Sky's adventures."

Zelda sighed, "Okay. What about you two?" she asked, turning to Legend and Hyrule (frowning slightly at the former).

"Well, our timeline begins with his," Legend gestured to Time, "death."

"His _what_?!" Zelda shrieked.

"Some version of myself died during my multiple trips through time," Time shrugged, "It happens."

"It happens?!"

"Don't," Wild reached over, rubbing her arm soothingly, "don't think about it too much."

She whirled around, scandalized, "Don't think—How can you say that?!"

"It…honestly doesn't matter," Wild said hesitantly. When he saw her take a sharp breath—no doubt in preparation of a rant—he quickly added, "He's here now so what's the point?"

Zelda grit her teeth, literally shaking with rage. Thankfully, she managed to contain herself, looking expectantly, if exasperatedly, at Legend.

"Well, the Zelda and Sages of that time managed to seal Ganon away—makes you wonder what they need us 'Heroes' for," he snidely stated. "The kingdom was rebuilt, but, surprise surprise, Ganon found a way to escape—another thing that just doesn't make sense. Why do magical seals degrade?"

"Rabbit hole," every other Hero called out.

"Ah, shut up," Legend groused. "Anyway, I beat him, of course. But apparently killing people lost its meaning by the time I was born, because while his personality was eviscerated, his body remained."

"Which led to his eventual resurrection," Hyrule said tiredly, "After which he ravaged the land for countless centuries, until I took up the sword and stopped him once more."

Zelda finished her notetaking. "Well then, that was…" she trailed off pursing her lips.

"It's chaotic, yes," Twilight said flippantly.

She nodded fervently. "But, wait…by our time, we've—"

"We've already been over this with Wild," Sky said with a short chuckle.

"Best we can figure," Four picked up, "is that some higher power got tired of the jumbled timelines and forced everything back together."

Zelda looked around for a more solid answer, staring at Wild the hardest. When he shrugged, she just sighed. "I…I think I'll go…compile what I've learned." With that said, she quickly fled upstairs.

"…Think we broke her?" Wild knew Wind didn't mean anything by it, but he still glared at his youngest counterpart.

**/+/+/+/+/**

**A/N: Poor, poor Zelda. As always, be sure to leave a review. Later.**


End file.
